Characterization of an innovative waste-derived fertilizer by hyperspectral imaging

Serranti S., Trella A., Bonifazi G., Santarelli M., Tirillò J. and Valente M.

Department of Chemical Engineering, Materials & Environment, Sapienza - University of Rome , Via Eudossiana, 18, 00184 Rome, Italy.

*silvia.serranti@uniroma1.itThe MAIN OBJECTIVE of the ongoing project LIFE12 ENV/IT/356 RESAFE: “Innovative fertilizer from urban waste, bio-char and farm residues as substitute of chemical fertilizers” is to demonstrate the production and use of “new” fertilizers characterized by reduced salinity in order to substitute chemicals and mineral fertilizers through a technological route based on urban organic waste, bio-char and farm organic residues “re-utilization” and processing.Following this approach it will be thus possible, for farmers and urban waste managers,, to reduce costs and to obtain environmental and economical incomes that is:

− an important material recovery (e.g. reduced quantities of waste sent to landfill disposal and related costs saving);

− a further economic benefit due to the obtained fertilizers.

SPAINAgricultural analysisand in field testing

CYPRUSAgricultural analysisand in field testing

DIPARTIMENTO DI INGEGNERIA

CHIMICA MATERIALI AMBIENTE

PROJECT BENEFICIARIES

CONSEJO SUPERIOR DE INVESTIGACIONES CIENTIFICAS

ITALYWaste Expert

ITALYExpert on agriculture,

agricultural waste handling and field testing

ITALYCoordinator of the project.

Expert in agricultural waste handling, processing and

environmental testing

ACTIONS AND TOOLS

Actions have been carried out to demonstrate the economic,, social and environmental benefits related to the production and use of reduced salinity fertilizers.

Demonstrative plants (i.e. lab and pilot scale plants) have been realized to show as from “different recipes”, based on treated organic waste (i.e. compost and farm organic residues) and bio-char, added with Vegetable Active Principles (VAP), a new class of fertilizers could be obtained.

Specific sensing device, based on HyperSpectral Imaging (HSI), are used to follow the transformations of the complex material, during the different stages of the process. Correlations between spectral behaviour and both curing time and measured chemical parameters of the different mixed wastes were investigated.

SELECTED MATERIALS FOR PILOT PLANT (Action B.3)

A preliminary selection of the different raw materials (Urban Organic Wastes: UOW, Farm Organic Residues: FOR, Bio-char: BC and VAP), constituting the recipe for the fertilizer production, was carried out in Italy and Spain. Mixtures of the raw materials were created. Samples were collected to follow the curing process, at times: t0 and t90 (t in days). The main physical-chemical parameters were measured for the collected samples, that were also acquired by HSI.

a b c d

Image sequence showing samples, preparation and analysis: a) box containing the raw material mixture; b) sample collection; c) sample preparation; d) acquisition by hyperspectral imaging in the NIR (1000-1650 nm) wavelength range, by NIR Spectral Camera™ (Specim, Finland).

HSI SOFTWAREARCHITECTURESET UP (Action B.3) AND

SAMPLES MONITORING (Action C.2)

Environmental impact will be also significantly reduced contributing to decrease greenhouse emissions from landfills.All the information about the project objectives, results, dissemination activities are available on-line at http://www.liferesafe.com/

HSI RESULTSPartial Least Squares (PLS)

HSI RESULTSPrincipal Component Analysis (PCA)

Demonstration of proper recipes through

the characterizationof organic waste

and final products

ACTION B.1Demonstration of HQ-ORBP (High Quality Organic Matter Based Product) production at laboratory level

ACTION B.2

Demonstrationof HQ-ORBP

production at pilot and semi-industrial scale

ACTION B.3

Demonstration of Agriculture Application

in Italy

ACTION B.4Demonstration of

Agriculture Application in Cyprus

ACTION B.6

Demonstration of Agriculture Application

in Spain

ACTION B.5

CSI 2015 • FIGUEIRA DA FOZ, COIMBRA (PORTUGAL), 30 AUGUST - 3 SEPTEMBER 2015

Spectral data have been analysed using the PLS_Toolbox 7.9.2 (Eigenvector Research Inc.) running inside Matlab™ (version 8.4.0) environment.

• Spectra preprocessing

• PCA applied for data exploration

• PLS applied for spectra correlation with different measured parameters

The measured parameters utilized to find correlation with the HSI data were: time, soluble nitrogen, soluble carbon and humidity.

SpecIm

NIR

Spectral Camera™

Energizin g (lighting) source

Optic

Waste samples

Hyperspectral data display

Control Panel

Conveyor belt

Results clearly outlined as, starting from the collection of NIR-HSI reflectance spectra, good PLS models have been set up for the prediction of soluble nitrogen, soluble carbon and humidity, as well as samples “ageing status”.

PCA score plots (PC1 vs. PC2) related to Spanish samples,

collected at different curing time (0 and 90 days)

PLS results for the different measured parameters(Italian and Spanish samples).

Average reflectance spectrum

Hypercubic image Hypercubic imagewith selected class

Hypercubic image Hypercubic imagewith selected class

Average reflectance spectrum

PCA score plots (PC1 vs. PC2) related to Italian samples, collected at different curing

time (0 and 90 days)

Spanish samples

Italian samples

Time Humidity

Soluble Carbon Soluble Nitrogen

T0 T90 T90 T0

T0 T0 T90 T90